Popular California outdoors writer Tom Stienstra arrested in pot bust at home in town of Weed

Popular Calif outdoors writer arrested in pot bust

SAN FRANCISCO — A popular California outdoors writer was free on bail after authorities said Friday they found a large marijuana growing operation in his barn in the town of Weed.

Deputies served a search warrant on 55-year-old Tom Stienstra’s home last week and seized 60 plants and more than 11 pounds of processed marijuana, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said.

Stienstra was arrested for investigation of possessing marijuana for sale and released March 26 on $75,000 bail. His wife and two other men were also arrested.

Prosecutors have sent the case back to the sheriff’s office for further investigation and have not filed any charges, Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus said.

Messages left for Stienstra and his lawyer Eric Bergstrom were not immediately returned.

Stienstra writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and appears regularly on Northern California radio and television stations.

He is the author of more than 20 guidebooks that together have sold more than a million copies and was twice named writer of the year by the Outdoor Writers Association of America, according to the biography on his Web site.

Scales, packaging material and other paraphernalia were confiscated from Stienstra’s barn and home, sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.

Deputies found medical marijuana recommendations for Stienstra, his wife and her 18-year-old son, who was not arrested, Gravenkamp said.

Until recently, California law limited medical marijuana users to possessing six mature or 12 immature plants, and 8 ounces of processed dried marijuana unless individual counties set higher limits.

The state Supreme Court struck down those limits in January, sending police, prosecutors and users into a state of confusion over how much marijuana will not count as too much.

Chronicle editor-in-chief Ward Bushee said the newspaper knew little about the allegations against Stienstra and hoped the case was resolved quickly. In the meantime, the Chronicle would continue to publish his columns, Bushee said.

While not as well known as some other locales, Siskiyou County along the Oregon border is a major marijuana-growing hub in the state, with hundreds of thousands of plants seized there last year alone, according to the sheriff’s office.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of editor-in-chief. ADDS photo link.)